"""

For millions of Muslims across the world celebrating the holy month of Ramadan in the comfort of home alongside their families, it is time to strengthen bonds of solidarity with Palestinians and Iraqis.

Saleh Al-Naami describes how besieged Gaza struggles to survive the holy month.

Seated patiently behind his desk, with a line of women applicants spilling out of his office into the hallway, Tareq Qandil, 35, is taking down names and handing out food. He heads a branch of the Islamic Rectitude Society in Al-Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza, and his society is giving away thousands of food parcels to poor families in an area where at least 20,000 people struggle to survive.

Each family gets a cash handout and several food parcels during the month of Ramadan. But this year the society is working harder than usual. "Because more families have fallen under the line of poverty due to the siege, we will double the number of parcels we distribute. Many people are unemployed and thus depend on charity for survival," Qandil told Al-Ahram Weekly.

Societies similar to Qandil's have sprouted around Gaza to supplement the efforts of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which is also helping thousands of indigent families. Meanwhile, the stranded government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh is also doing what it can. Social Affairs Minister in the Hamas government Ahmed Al-Kurd says his ministry is providing financial assistance to over 20,000 families in Gaza.

"We understand the grave ramifications of the blockade on our people in Gaza, and the government is doing all it can to make life easier for them," Al-Kurd told the Weekly. His ministry is coordinating its relief work with charity organisations, whose efforts are indispensable in a place where basic supplies, if available, are prohibitively expensive.

Just to illustrate levels of poverty, Al-Zawiya market in Gaza is crowded on the first day of Ramadan, but shoppers say that most of the goods are beyond their reach. Marwan Sawi, a government employee, complains about the price of Gouda cheese, which his three daughters love to have for their pre-dawn meal, or Sohour . After much deliberation, he decided to buy a piece for his girls. But his salary of 1,500 shekels ($380) is barely enough to cover his monthly expenses. In Ramadan, he will need to borrow, he says.

Khalil Zahir, a shopkeeper, says that the purchasing power of the Gazan population has dropped steadily over the past two years. But this month is perhaps the hardest so far, he notes.

With the borders in and out of Gaza closed, it is difficult to imagine the situation improving. Ramzi Hayyen, another shopkeeper, says that despite the truce Israel and the Palestinians have agreed to, the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) still keep the border crossings closed, thus ensuring that the shortages continue. "Because the border crossings are closed, Palestinians have to rely on the merchandise being smuggled through the tunnels. This merchandise tends to be expensive because of the methods and individuals involved. Goods smuggled from Egypt used to be much cheaper than goods coming through the border crossings with Israel. But now both are expensive, simply because there is nothing else in the market," said Hayyen.

Meanwhile, Maged Ibrahim is shopping for Ramadan lanterns for his three boys. When the shopkeeper tells him that each lantern costs 20 shekels ($5.5), he talks the boys into buying something else. The lantern merchant admits that the prices of lanterns are too high. The reason for this is that the lanterns were smuggled through the tunnels.

As for the cost of food, mosques are set to provide free Iftar (sunset meals) to the neediest families. Ahmed Abu Mosameh, 25, imam of Al-Ansar Mosque in Al-Maghazi camp, has been in touch with donors and restaurant owners, and has already arranged for meals for 30 families.

Things were, at one point, expected to be even worse. Israel was rumoured to be about to cut off gas supplies to Gaza, so a shortage of gas bottles was expected. To the relief of many, gas supplies continued. Alaa Zeyada, 27, has just filled his gas bottle from a nearby supply station. He is walking back home in Berkat Al-Wezz, carrying the heavy bottle on his back, sweating. But he is pleased to have found gas in the market. Now his five-member family will be able to have cooked meals for the rest of the month. "No one wants to live on canned food in Ramadan," he told the Weekly.

Meanwhile, the effects of the temporary ceasefire are being felt. Families living close to the demarcation lines with Israel have been spared the usual incursions. In past years, many men had to sleep away from home in Ramadan, for fear of being harassed by the IOF. Yehia Al-Hakjuri, an inhabitant of Al-Qarara, a village situated close to the demarcation lines, says that this is the first Ramadan in four years he gets to spend at home. "What a pleasure to be able to take my three sons to the local mosque for the late night prayers of taraweeh or to spend time with friends on the hills, surrounded by vine trees and orchards." In earlier years, his wife used to send him his Iftar to eat out of the house. Although he is not a member of any resistance group, he never felt safe at home. """ [ source Al-Ahram Weekly ]

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[RO]

""" Pentru milioane de musulmani din întreaga lume, celebrarea lunii sfinte a Ramadanului în comfortul propriei case alături de familie reprezintă momentul de a întări legăturile de solidaritate cu palestinienii şi irakienii.

Saleh Al-Naami descrie cum se chinuie Gaza asediată să supravieţuiască lunii sfinte.

Răbdător, aşezat în spatele mesei sale de scris, cu un rând de femei solicitante care curg din biroul său afară în hol, Tareq Qandil, 35, taie nume odată ce împarte mâncare. El conduce o ramură a Societăţii Islamice pentru Corectitudine din tabăra de refugiaţi Al-Maghazi din Gaza, iar această societate dă mii de pachete cu mâncare familiilor sărace într-o zonă în care 20.000 de oameni se zbat să supravieţuiască.

Fiecare familie primeşte în timpul lunii Ramadan o sumă de bani şi câteva pachete cu mâncare. Dar în acest an societatea lucrează mai mult decât de obicei. „Deoarece şi mai multe familii au căzut sub pragul de sărăcie din cauza asediului vom dubla numărul de pachete distribuite. Multe persoane sunt şomere şi astfel depind pe donaţii pentru a supravieţui,” a spus Qandil pentru Săptămânalul Al-Ahram.

Societăţi similare cu cea a lui Qandil au înmugurit prin toată Gaza pentru a suplimenta eforturile Agenţiei Naţiunilor Unite pentru Ajutor şi Reconstrucţie (UNRWA) care, de asemenea, ajută mii de familii nevoiaşe. Între timp şi guvernul eşuat al primului ministru Ismail Haniyeh face tot ce poate. Ministrul pentru afacerile sociale din guvernul Hamas, Ahmed Al-Kurd, spune că ministerul său asigură asistenţă financiară pentru mai mult de 20.000 de familii din Gaza.

„Înţelegem gravele ramificaţii ale blocadei asupra poporului nostru din Gaza, iar guvernul face tot ce poate pentru a face viaţa mai uşoară pentru ei,” a declarat Al-Kurd pentru Săptămânal. Ministerul său îşi coordonează munca de întrajutorare cu organizaţiile de caritate ale căror eforturi sunt indispensabile într-un loc în care proviziile de bază, dacă sunt disponibile, sunt prohibitiv de scumpe.

Doar pentru a ilustra nivelurile de sărăcie, piaţa Al-Zawiya din Gaza este aglomerată în prima zi de Ramadan, dar cumpărătorii spun că majoritatea bunurilor sunt peste posibilităţile lor. Marwan Sawi, un angajat al guvernului, se plânge de preţurile la brânza Gouda pe care cele trei fete ale sale le place să o aibă la masa dinaintea zorilor sau Sohour. După o lungă deliberare se decide să cumpere o bucată pentru fetele lui. Dar salariul său de 1.500 şekeli (380$) de abia dacă ajunge să acopere cheltuielile lunare. De Ramadan va trebui să se împrumute, spune el.

Un negustor, Khalil Zahir, spune că puterea de cumpărare a populaţiei din Gaza a scăzut în mod constant de-a lungul ultimilor doi ani. Dar luna aceasta probabil că este cea mai grea de până acum, observă el.

Cu graniţele de intrare şi ieşire ale Gazei închise este greu de imaginat că situaţia s-ar putea îmbunătăţi. Ramzi Hayyen, un alt negustor, spune că în ciuda armistiţiului acceptat de Israel şi palestinieni, Forţele de Ocupare Israeliene (I.O.F) încă ţin punctele de trecere ale graniţei închise pentru a se asigura că asediul continuă. „Din cauză că punctele de trecere ale graniţei sunt închise palestinienii trebuie să se bazeze pe marfa de contrabandă introdusă prin tunele. Această marfă tinde să fie scumpă din pricina metodelor şi a indivizilor folosiţi. Bunurile de contrabandă din Egipt erau mult mai ieftie decât bunurile care veneau prin punctele de trecere ale graniţei cu Israel. Dar acum ambele sunt scumpe pentru simplul motiv că nu mai este nimic altceva pe piaţă,” spune Hayyen.

Între timp, Maged Ibrahim este la cumpărături de lanterne de Ramadan pentru cei trei băieţi ai săi. Când vânzătorul îi spune că fiecare lanternă costă 20 de şekeli (5,5$) îşi convinge fiii să le cumpere altceva. Negustorul de lanterne admite că preţul acestora este prea mare. Motivul pentru acest lucru este că lanternele au fost introduse prin contrabandă prin tunele.

Cât despre costul alimentelor, moscheile sunt pregătite să asigure Iftar (mesele de la apusul soarelui) pe gratis pentru familiile cele mai sărace. Ahmed Abu Mosameh, 25, imam la moscheea Al-Ansar din tabăra Al-Maghazi, păstrează legătura cu donatori şi proprietari de restaurante şi deja a aranjat mesele pentru 30 de familii.

La un moment dat situaţia se aştepta să fie şi mai grea. Se zvonea că Israel este pe punctul de a tăia aprovizionarea cu gaz spre Gaza şi astfel se aştepta o penurie de gaz. Spre alinarea multora aprovizionarea cu gaz a continuat. Alaa Zeyada, 27, tocmai ce şi-a umplut butelia cu gaz de la o staţie din apropriere. Merge pe jos înapoi acasă în Berkat Al-Wezz şi transpiră cărând butelia grea în spate. Dar este mulţumit pentru că a găsit gaz în piaţă. Acum familia sa, alcătuită din cei cinci membri, va putea să gătească mesele pentru tot restul lunii. „Nimeni nu vrea să trăiască din mâncare la conservă de Ramadan”, a declarat el pentru Săptămânal.

Între timp, se fac simţite efectele armistiţiului temporar. Familiile care trăiesc aproape de liniile de demarcaţie cu Israel au fost scutite de atacurile obişnuite. În ultimii ani mulţi bărbaţi au trebuit să doarmă departe de casă de Ramadan de frică să nu fie hărţuiţi de I.O.F. Yehia Al-Hakjuri, un locuitor din Al-Qarara, un sat situat aproape de liniile de demarcaţie, spune că este primul Ramadan din ultimii patru ani pe care îl petrece acasă. „Ce plăcere să pot să îmi duc cei trei fii ai mei la moscheea din localitate pentru rugăciunile târzii de noapte de taraweeh sau să petrec timpul cu prietenii pe dealuri înconjurat de viţe de vie şi livezi.” În anii anteriori, soţia sa obişnuia să îi trimită masa de Iftar pe care o mânca afară din casă. Nu s-a simţit niciodată în siguranţă acasă deşi nu este membru în niciun grup de rezistenţă. """

Construction face

Na, in sMeet ist Universal Music auf jeden Fall jetzt mit THE DOME vertreten. Und die User können dort ein bisschen auf und vor der dem Original nachempfundenen Bühne rumspringen. Selbstverständlich soll es auch Events geben, Meet&Greets mit den Stars und Leinwände zum gemeinsamen Betrachten von Videos.

Na, denke für die Einwohner von sMeet ist es eine nette Erweiterung der Plattform. Ob es auch neue Gäste ins Land holt? Wird sich zeigen.

Most remarkably, let's not forget that this is the building we came to loathe when it was called the Dome. At the turn of the millennium, it demonstrated everything Britain did badly. A great piece of British engineering rightly admired around the globe, but filled with stuff designed by a committee which couldn't decide whether it should be educational or entertaining. Nobody wants to go to a funfair with a message! Worse still, by the end of the first week, the press was full of pictures of exhibits which had already been pulled out of service. Post-it notes with "Out of Order" were already cropping up. The taxpayer picked up the bill for a dismal failure.

It took a Frenchman, the irrepressible P-Y Gerbeau, to start the turnaround (he is, I believe, now involved with the X-Scape entertainment arenas). Some American noses were sniffing around too- because they could smell a bargain. Here was a perfectly good entertainment space (if only it was used properly); with excellent shiny new transport links to central London; which had a terrible reputation and represented a political liability, and therefore would have a fire-sale price tag.

The eventual buyer was AEG (the US entertainment group, not the washing machine people...), and they've done what I think are some pretty clever things. Here are just a few.

• Make sure people forget "The Dome". That needed a change of name; so they killed two birds with one stone by bagging a fat sponsor too. The "O2 Arena" was born.
• Provide world-beating facilities. The O2 isn't just visually spectacular, it's genuinely an enjoyable experience to go there. From ticketing to toilets, everything works properly.
• Surprise everyone. O2 highlights have included Prince's almost passport-deserving residency last summer, the Spice Girls' (er... triumphant) UK comeback, and of course the incredible Led Zeppelin one-off gig.
• Appeal to everyone. Large venues should find it fairly easy to cater to all markets. After all, Cliff Richard could be appearing one day, Slipknot the next. But the O2 is redefining the meaning of live events, and in so doing appealing to the broadest of audiences. Residencies like Prince jostle against all-night events (DJ Tiesto recently headlined, and New Years Eve at the O2 is a legendary club-fest). Whichever generation you represent, the O2 now delivers a consistent performance.
• Push the brand: The O2 now has a little sister, the IndigO2, which caters to a more arthouse audience, and has held cultural events like the Tutankhamun exhibition.
• But keep it simple: Unlike the dreaded Dome, AEG have kept things simple. It's a venue. It has space. It uses that space to host events. Events will make or lose money according to how many people buy tickets, and how many T-shirts and programmes they buy. And that's it.

So, there you go. It's a shame we needed an American buyer to make it work. It's a shame the public sector didn't do a very good job of things with the Dome first time round. But the above points show it really is possible to turn round a national joke- a brand in big trouble- and not just recover, but recover to become a world-beater.

Wenn ihr direkt zur Abstimmung wollt klickt hier !

DANKE !

Eure Shoes

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UPDATE ( 12.08.08 )

Jetzt noch einfacher :D -->

Max von den Shoes

Wir sind im finalen Voting vom The Dome Wettbewerb:

Ab Montag, den 11.08.08, könnt ihr dann unter www.thedome.de für uns voten !

Wir bitten euch um eure Unterstützung !!!

Wenn wir dort gewinnen würden, dürften wir am 29.08.08 beim Warm-Up des The Dome 47 spielen!

Also vielen Dank schonmal für eure Votes :D

Julius von den Shoes

PS: Weitere Infos folgen natürlich am Montag!

Hai Blog

artwork

The club built in the 70's is to undergo a £4m refurb of its 45,000sq feet. Meanwhile the Dale End site - which is undergoing a £600m development by the council in 2009 turning it in to a mixture of retail, leisure, office and residential spaces - will continue to trade as usual until the development of Martineau Galleries starts

“We’ve known of the proposed development at Dale End for a number of years and have been actively looking for a new venue for some time. The site of the former Dome nightclub ticks all our boxes, it’s a landmark building in a City Centre location, it’s the right size and space to develop our strategy of a multi-room format and we can really push the boundaries to create Birmingham’s very best concert venue,” says Academy Music Group’s Chief Executive Officer, John Northcote. “Birmingham is very important to the Group as it was first City I chose outside of London some eight years ago to expand our Academy brand. From the off, it was a real success and without a doubt, is our busiest venue in the estate and it marked a true footprint for the roll-out of Academy venues nationwide.”

License is granted for an overall building capacity of 3,836 at 16-18 Horse Fair, Bristol Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B1 1DB. Full details of the development programme and formats to be released in due course.

After morning dives at Amphitheatre, the boat headed over to West Caicos for dives at Rock Garden Interlude - or RGI for short! Tuesday was also spent at West Caicos with dives at the Gully (and Loretta!) and Brandywine. On Wednesday morning divers got to see the beautiful coral and sponge encrusted anchor at the aptly named dive site, Spanish Anchor. After the morning dives, Captain Mark Fernandez took the boat over to French Cay where they spent the rest of the week. They dove at G-Spot, Double-D and Half Mile Reef. Then it was back to the marina in time for lunch on Friday.

So I will now describe some of the stuff that I did within the past week, randomly deciding to start with Monday. Monday after classes, I went to band practice where we basically did a dress rehearsal for Wednesday's concert, afterwhich I went to dinner. After Dinner, I had to do yearbook pictures for like six of the organizations that I am in, but only three of them showed up for it, and I simultaneously covered duty for someone for about an hour.

Tuesday was Stephen Colbert day, in that after class I met up with Scott Ware, Lisa, and Ed's sister to go see The Colbert Report in Philadelphia. We left campus around 1, and stopped at Chik-fil-a, because it is awesome, and we weren't sure when we would be able to eat again. We ended up getting around there for 2:30ish and mostly waited around until about 7:00 when filming began. The guests that night were Michelle Obama and the Roots, and the played cool music to keep the crowd pumped, it was pretty awesome. Afterwards we went back to campus so we could catch The Office at 10 on TBS, The Daily Show on Comedy Central, and, of course, The Colbert Report that we were at that day.

Wednesday I got to wake up early and go to my one-on-one with my GA Volpi at 11. Then I went to lunch most likely, then to history and domestic violence classes, the latter of in which I had a final. After that I went back to my room to watch Scrubs and get ready for the band concert later that night, as I had an RA all-staff meeting at 5 to attend. After the all-staff meeting, I had a meeting with my RA staff, and then had to go get ready for the concert. The concert was followed by a little after concert get-together in the band room, where I mostly just talked to Granma, Gail, and Aunt Connie, who had all came to see the concert. From there I went to my dorm to prepare for the Josh Low Radio Fun Time Show, which occurs every Wednesday this semester from 10pm-12am on Widener's radio station WDNR. We decided to push past the midnight end period however as no show follows mine and we were having fun doing the "Josh Low Radio Fun Time Show: After Hours - Midnight Society".

Thursday for me was a day without classes, so instead I worked on the articles for The Dome, Widener's Newspaper that I had to turn in at the end of the week. This really just meant that I had to make some phone calls and meet with Mike Lombardo. Before doing this I first got together with my senior research group and we ran through the presentation we would be giving the next morning. After I was done working for that I got ready for the Phi Sigma Pi dinner we were having at Pica's restaurant that night. I then went to the cafeteria and had a light dinner in preparation for not knowing what Pica's would be like. That was followed with the dinner which was a good time. I got back home in time to catch the end of the Flyers game, as well as the second half of the new episode of The Office, and the new episode of Scrubs.

Friday gave me the pleasure of being able to wake up early and be part of the first Criminal Justice senior research presentation at nine o'clock. I think our presentation went well and I watched several others until around eleven, when I left to join Scott Ware to catch Ed's senior capstone presentation at Lathem. We went to lunch in the cafeteria after Scott and I failed to find free food on campus and were joined by Lisa, Scott Siegel, and probably some other people, but I have a terrible memory. Then we went back to my dorm room to make sure we caught the repeat of Thursday night's episode of The Colbert Report, as it had been very awesome. I wrote my articles for the Dome afterwards and then Lisa and I headed out to meet Kim at the Relay for Life at Villanova. We arrived at around five o'clock and stayed there until about 6:30am. This meant no sleep, but also meant catching a couple bands, several episodes of the office, a moonbounce and an inflatable boxing ring.

I've already spilled over into my dealings on Saturday, but I did get home at about 7:30 from Relay. I then slept for about two and half hours then got to wake up and get ready to represent The Dome at Widener Day. I called Ed, who was awesomely willing to help me out with it, and we tried to convice current and prospective students to write for the paper that we aren't going to be here for next year.  This ended at 12:30 afterwhich I caught a quick lunch at the cafeteria, and went to watch the Flyers game at one o'clock. The game was frustrating me, so I decided to go to sleep during the third period. This game me an extra hour or two of sleep before Alan came to Widener to pick me up and begin his birthday festivities. We went to Becca's house and had some pizza and watched tv and then left for Harrah's Casino in Chester where we were getting together for his birthday. We hung out in their sports bar till around 1:30, and I had a really good time. It made for some interesting stories of its own which are too long to add to this already too long entry. I will say though, that it was awesome.

That brings me to the current day, sort of. I pretty much laid in bed until around 1:30 today, trying to catch up some of the sleep that I had missed previously and then went to check out Theatre Widener's Production of "Noises Off" which was really funny. I then went straight to dinner as I had not yet eaten. After dinner we went to Walmart to try to purchase a VHS tape with which we could record the replaying of The Colbert Report tomorrow, but they were all sold out. I then came back to my dorm to hang out, and was joined by both Scotts, Lisa, and Ed. We ended up mostly watching random stuff and Scott Ware played some guitar hero. Everybody slowly filtered out until about midnight, then I just watched some TV, listened to some music and worked on this post.

That must have by far been my longest entry, and my best attempt to try to use my memory. The week ahead looks like it will be much more calm. As an additional note, I found Felix the Cat: The Movie on youtube, which I shall probably soon check out as they have yet to put it on DVD.

I've already commented more than once how long this post is, but I decided it was necessary to add the next Josh's Law to it anyway:
Josh's Fourth Law:
Bismarck is the coolest word ever.

If you ever are in Bombay dont miss "the dome"!

Nice place and a Nice view!

Seine Wunsch jetzt: „Ich hoffe, dass alles schnell heilt, damit ich auf Tour gehen kann.“ Seine Band Empty Trash hatte den Auftritt bei The Dome bereits absagen müssen.

Außerdem gibt es Culcha Candela mit ihrem Nummer 1-Hit "Hamma", den 15-Jährigen Mädchenschwarm Jimi Blue mit seiner neuen Single "I'm lovin (l.r.h.p.)" und seinem neuen Album "Mission Blue", Empty Trash und viele weitere Topacts zu sehen.

"The Dome 44" - Am Freitag, 16. November 2007, in der Stadthalle Graz
und am 24. November ab 17:00 Uhr auf RTL2.

We were at Ampli5, the Dome, Johannesburg. On the stage the Youngblood Brass Band were badly miked, making their brassy hip-hop look easy. In front of them about 400 people stared vacantly, lets just say that it was a badly attended concert, alternatively lets say that the last time I didn't have to stand in line to use the toilets at the dome, the boat expo was on.
I was kind of staring vacantly into space, working my way through the lukewarm beer, when the menacing growl of Fokofpolisiekar's guitar started breaking down my sinus passages. Damn these guys are amazing! Ok, so they were actually the reason why we paid the 250 bucks to come out here, but damn they are amazing! Forgetting for a second that Francois could have taught Kurt a thing or two about what it means to be a rock monster, that bassist!, wow, hammering away, never letting you forget that rock 'n roll is something that you make with your body, not with a stringed plank.

And then, ek skyn heilig, this song would make my all time top ten rock songs. How they could think about break up I have no idea - they are probably our best rock band at the moment, but maybe the Van Coke Cartel (or Van Coke Kartell as one poster seemed to indicate) will be just as good - and maybe they'll play ek skyn heilig once in a while. I would even settle for the occasional Hemel Op Die Plattenland.

I wish I could tell you a bit more about The Parlotones and Jimmy Eat World, but they seemed kind of arb and uninspired after the hugeness of Fokofpolisiekar. Let me ask you this question though? Who are Jimmy Eat World and why did someone bother to bring them to SA. I would have rather watched the Nude Girls or Japan and I. So I stood outside, had a couple of more beers, smoke a few cigarettes, looked for people I knew. Then finally someone I knew, someone my age, I raised my hand to wave, and then I noticed she was there with her kids.

I walked back inside, in time to see the Femmes. These guys must be able to play these songs in their sleep by now. Killer tracks, I'm so lonely, Blister in the Sun, Country Death Song - my misspent youth in a handful of songs. Loud obnoxious and atonal, they rocked like no 40-year-old (50-year-old?) has ever rocked. Some moments there were seven Femmes onstage all hammering away, and then the horns of dilemma, serious atonal blasts of improve that sounded like they belonged in a John Zorn film or a Japanese noise band and sent the kids running for the exits. Their wall of sound satisfying even this barely rehabilitated metalhead.

Hours later back home, after having gorged on several brands of painkillers, I can still hear .. ek skyn, ek skyn heilig ... en my kop klop ...